THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P129.12 billion in value-added tax (VAT) last year, up 8.6% or P10.25 billion from the previous year’s P118.86 billion.
In its annual report, BOC said the VAT on oil imports amounted to P46.24 billion, of which P28.968 billion were from crude and P17.277 billion were from petrol products.
The P28.968-billion VAT was collected out of the P249.84 billion worth of crude oil imports and the P17.27 billion VAT out of the P136.85 billion worth of imported finished petroleum products.
Meanwhile, the 2007 excise tax collection of P13.38 billion from alcohol, tobacco and petroleum products was higher by P2.63 billion or 24.4% compared with the P10.75 billion collected in 2006.
“While VAT and excise tax collections perked up, duties collected—mirroring the expanding share of duty free items to total imports–remained flat at P68.53 billion, or P54.9 million below the 2006 level,” the BOC report said.
Non-oil cargoes accounted for P146.9 billion of duties and taxes and collected, 10% or P10.24 billion higher than it posted in 2006.
Taxes on crude oil registered a 7.5% drop to P36.22 billion, consistent with the diminished refining capacity of the country.
“The slack was picked up by the uptick in tax and duty collections on finished petroleum products which grew 22.5%, or P5.02 billion to P27.36 billion in 2007,” the report said.
The national government raised the VAT from 10% to 12% in 2006, resulting in the BOC’s positive collection performance in the same year.
The national government has assigned BOC a collection target of P254 billion for 2008.
The bureau is lobbying to bring down its target, citing the strong peso and the surge in oil prices that could adversely affect the oil import volumes.
BOC claimed that for every P1 appreciation against the US dollar, the bureau loses revenues of P3 billion.
